Briggs Land is an ongoing comic book from Dark Horse that is also being developed for TV at AMC. I’m always interested in comics becoming TV, so I started reading with some enthusiasm. Briggs Land is almost hundred square miles of wilderness near Upstate New York and is controlled by the Briggs Briggs Landfamily, a community of anti-government secessionists. Patriarch Jim Briggs is controlling the his empire from behind bars until his wife Grace informs him that she is taking over. Jim has a long reach from jail, so Grace has knowingly maneuvered herself into a position that’s not what you’d call safe. Grace also faces a power struggle with the Briggs Land community. They’re not too happy about being told what to do by a woman and feel a man would be better in charge. Grace has three sons, each with his own personal agenda and job within the family. Isaac Briggs is 26 and a has completed two tours of Afghanistan. Older brother Caleb is the money laundering accountant. Noah is described as the executioner. If that wasn’t enough to contend with, there’s an ongoing investigation into their illegal activities.Briggs Land

It’s an interesting premise, which works well in the comic and you can see how it may translate to TV. By setting it mostly “off the grid”, we have an almost post-apocalyptic world (minus the apocalypse) but modern USA is just a short drive away. Then we have the characters. Being anti-government secessionists, the Briggs family and their associates aren’t exactly nice people. Grace is an old hippy at heart but she’s tough and is also the character most people will relate to. Caleb has moved into being a full white supremacist, which is something that doesn’t sit well with his brothers, particularly Isaac. Isaac is something of an outcast after daring to join the army. On the side of ‘good’ we have the investigating agents. It’s interesting watching it all unfold. There are also some nice scenes where they’ll be a couple of pages of a character doing something normal, followed by a twist. In one of them Grace has picked up her son, goes for a long drive, stops to buy fast food, then pulls out a submachine gun from a hidden compartment. Little things that keep reminding you this is not the everyday world.

The current series of the Briggs Land comic is a three parter. I’ve read the first two and I’m intrigued. Recommended if you like a story with complex, difficult characters and some back to basics survivalist action in your comics.

Briggs Land is written by Brian Wood with art by Mack Chater, Lee Loughridge, and Tula LotayYou can read more at the Briggs Land website.

 

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